A number of local shops and bakeries cater to the holiday-gift buyer.
The ‘bloody’ goods at British Connection
Got a finicky food fanatic on your holiday shopping list?
If so, please allow us to suggest a few local spots to pick up a culinary treat or cooking implement that’s certain to impress.
Let’s begin at what is perhaps the most holiday-conducive environment locally, the historic town of Smithville. This time of year, it’s worth a trip to this northern Atlantic County community just to stroll about the charming, eclectic shops and eateries ringing Lake Meone.
And if a chocolate lover happens to be on your shopping list, all the better.
Anchoring the Village Green section of stores you’ll find Sweet Things (615 Moss Mill Rd., store #94, 652-2888), a true emporium of everything cocoa-related.
Chocolate-covered strawberries, blueberries, grapes and bananas are made in-house daily. Gourmet pretzels, specially done for the store, are double-dipped in high-quality Belgium chocolate, then rolled with a variety of toppings like toffee crunch, nonpareils and peanut butter chips.
Along with hundreds of other chocolates and candy, they’ll even custom prepare goodies for events like birthdays, weddings and other celebrations.
Just a few hundred yards away, you’ll find another unique specialty provider, Cooks Corner (3 N. New York Rd., #12,748-9030). This one-stop shop offers a wide variety of coffees, teas, foods and kitchen gadgets.
Looking for authentic Jamaican blue mountain coffee, widely considered to be the world’s best? You’ll get it here, but you best hurry, as it will only be in stock through most of December.
Other fine beans, from exotic places like Kenya, New Guinea and Hawaii, are available year round.
Gourmet treats like Busha Browne’s sauces and jellies, Sticky Fingers baking mixes, Gil’s stuffed olives, Stonewall Kitchen’s jams, jellies, syrups, salsas, chutneys and relish also line their shelves.
Perfect products for stuffing stockings.
A former tenant at Smithville, The British Connection is now located at 130 New Jersey Ave. in nearby Absecon.
Wandering into the Smithville Inn on a balmy weekday evening just prior to Easter was like unexpectedly running into an old, dear friend.
Harvest Market on Route 9 vends sandwiches, pizzas, grilled items, salads and extraordinary baked goods — specifically, bagels. Big, puffy rounds in about a half dozen varieties, including an absolutely out-of-this-world sunflower seed version that you are unlikely to encounter at many other places.
It’s that time of year when we are joyous about having days off, but at the same time dreading the almost forced family time. Most of us would love to take a holiday vacation, get away from our daily routines and experience new sights and cultures, but during this time of year we are stuck in holiday-related traffic and stressing out about superficial things. Don’t lose sight of the fact that although it’s tough to get along with everyone, especially the odd family members that you just can’t relate to no matter what you do, that you are spending time together because deep down it is a “ritual of reassurance,”...
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